Examines the policies and research on charter schools and their equivalents in five countries –USA, Sweden, Chile, England and New Zealand. Summary Charter schools and free schools – publicly-funded, privately-managed schools – have been introduced in several countries around the world as a way of extending school choice, particularly for low income families. This report...

The burqa has been a garment of controversy in Australia, with calls to ban it from being worn in public -- most notably a suggestion of banning it in the Canberra Parliament. A new research report published by the Centre for Independent Studies examines two of the key arguments about banning the burqa and investigates...

Foreign policy is typically a blandly bipartisan affair in liberal democracies like Australia and the United States. Although different slogans are employed by left and right, major political parties support broadly liberal foreign policy goals. Both sides of politics want to preserve peace and national security, promote trade and economic development, and protect individual rights...

This report argues that reforming the pension could deliver income gains of more than $5,900 a year to almost 98% of pensioners. These reforms would also reduce the cost of the pension by $14.5 billion a year. Executive summary

This paper argues that criticism of tax concessions has lost sight of the legitimate reasons for many of them. Overview While action is needed to correct structural budget deficits, the criticism of tax concessions has lost sight of the legitimate reasons for many of them, and often overestimates the revenue gain. On the whole, the...